Hola de Buenos Aires

Hola Familia y Amigos,

Greetings from the amazing city of Buenos Aires. First let me apologize for taking so long to write a post. I´ve sat down to do it a few times and just didn´t know where to begin. I still don´t but figure that it´s time to do it anyways. For lack of a better choice, I´ll start right here. From this internet cafe, on the calle Peru, in the bario of San Telmo(BsAs´oldest neighborhood). From this internet cafe, I´ll reflect on the past week of adventure...

I don´t know if I was prepared for how much I would like this city. It´s like a glorious melange of the some of the best cities I know. There is so much diversity among the barios (neighborhoods), that I sometimes feel as if I´m in Montreal, or Toronto, or New York, Paris, LA, various parts of Italy...the list goes on. One thing for sure is that it rarely feels as if I am on the other end of the world (vertically anyways). This city is so vibrant and cosmopolitan, that it seems hard to see how anyone could get out of here without being enchanted...

A particularly wonderful bit about this city is how friendly everyone is. Everyone seems open for a chat (great for practicing) or to help you out. So many strangers have offered themselves to me should I need anything. It´s really impressive. More amazing is that I actually have a few local friends. In an effort to integrate immediately (and to actually learn Spanish), I opted to Couchsurf upon my arrival in BsAs. Couchsurfing is this amazing online community where people around the world open up their homes to welcome travelers to sleep (or surf) on their couches. Based on the idea of reciprication, some really kind and open minded people open themselves up to the world. The CS community in BsAs is one of the more active ones, with events being hosted almost daily. It´s been a great way to meet locals.

The last week has been mostly transition for me. I´m still trying to find a niche here. I´ve yet to make some firm decisions of how to spend the next few weeks, but it´s as if there isn´t much need to decide anything at all. I am taking private Spanish lessons 3x week, but have yet to sign up at a school. I´m not entirely sure formal classes are what I need, but it may help to meet some new people. I´m considering going to a school for just two weeks... In the mean time, I absolutely love my private lessons. My teacher, Emiliano is super-patient and kind. We drink coffees and eat cookies in his sunny apartment (in San Telmo). Even better is that he doesn´t speak any English, which means that there´s no crutch. I have to get in Spanish, or not at all! I´m considering taking more classes with him as one-on-one seems to be better for language acquisition. I´m also considering procuring a air matress and staying in his spare room for a few weeks... This consideration leads to another non-decision on the go, specifically where to live. It seems as if my initial plan of landing here and finding some locals to move in with may have been naive. Not that it´s not possible, but more likely that no one really wants a roommate for less than a month. Porteños (people from BsAs) typically live with people they know. It is not so common to advertise for roommates. Furthermore, those that are open to roommates- weekly or monthly rentals- often employ the help of an agent. These agents, of course, charge ´stupid foreigner´prices. I´ve gone to see a few apartments, but have yet to find something that fits either my fantasy or my idea of an appropriate price point. Thus, I continue to Couchsurf. Maybe it´s a holding pattern, or maybe it´s based on my fear of isolating myself, but for now, I´ve been kind of been floating. Not making decisions that aren´t essential.

I promise to be better about Blogging...

Thank you all for reading it!

Mucho amore y los grandes besos de Buenos Aires,
Amy